Magewell and Zixi Develop Cost Effective and Reliable Live Video Over IP Workflow

Zixi, the industry leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Magewell, a leading developer of video capture, encoding and IP workflow hardware, today announced an expanded collaboration that gives broadcasters and streaming providers a reliable, end-to-end path for live video contribution over public and hybrid IP networks. A leading U.S. streaming service has deployed the combined Magewell-and-Zixi solution to reliably receive and decode live IP video across its production and distribution operations. 

As live sports, events and news increasingly move to IP-based contribution, broadcasters need to move pristine video across networks they don’t control, without the cost and rigidity of dedicated circuits or satellite. The Magewell and Zixi solution addresses that need by combining compact, cost-effective encoding at the source with error-resilient transport across the last mile and beyond. 

Magewell’s Ultra Encode family, including the Ultra Encode Plus and Ultra Encode AIO models, encodes HDMI and SDI sources in H.264 or HEVC and streams natively using the Zixi Protocol. Once in flight, the Zixi Protocol dynamically compensates for packet loss, jitter and latency to protect video quality across unmanaged and congested networks. The encoders can be provisioned and monitored directly from Zixi ZEN Master, giving operators centralized orchestration, real-time telemetry and alerting across large fleets of contribution endpoints. 

The integration works end to end. On the receive side, Magewell’s Pro Convert IP decoders take incoming Zixi streams and convert them back to SDI or HDMI for monitoring, production and playout, all manageable from ZEN Master. The result is a workflow that scales from a single flypack to hundreds of endpoints. Operators can encode affordably at the source, deliver reliably over any IP network, decode cost-effectively at the destination, and manage the entire estate from a single control plane. 

The leading U.S. streaming service selected the joint solution to give control room operators direct control over what appears on every screen. Live production feeds are pulled straight from cloud-hosted Zixi Broadcasters into Magewell Pro Convert decoders, which convert them back to SDI/HDMI for the control room. From ZEN Master, operators switch any of those feeds to whichever screen they need. The result is a standardized, cost-effective decode workflow that delivers broadcast-grade reliability at scale. 

“Reliability is everything in live contribution, and our customers want that reliability without the cost and complexity of legacy transport,” said Jonathan Low, VP Channel Sales and Partnerships at Zixi. “Pairing Magewell’s versatile, affordable encoders and decoders with the Zixi platform gives streamers and broadcasters a simple, scalable way to move pristine live video into and out of their workflows, and to see and manage every point from ZEN Master.” 

“Native Zixi support across our Ultra Encode encoders and Pro Convert decoders lets customers build flexible, multi-protocol workflows on both ends of the network,” said Nick Ma, CEO and CTO, Magewell. “We’re proud that a leading U.S. streaming service has chosen Magewell and Zixi together, and we look forward to helping more customers deliver reliable live video at scale.” 

Zixi protocol support and ZEN Master management are available today on the Magewell Ultra Encode Plus and Ultra Encode AIO encoders and the second generation of the Pro Convert IP decoder line. Broadcasters and streaming providers can see the joint solution in action at IBC 2026, RAI Amsterdam (11–14 September), Zixi Stand Stand 5.A76 in Hall 5 and Magewell Stand 7.A30 in Hall 7.